This Week in SABR: June 28, 2013

It was one year ago Thursday that our 42nd annual convention kicked off in Minneapolis. Relive the fun with online coverage and clips at SABR.org/convention/2012. Then make your plans to join us in Philadelphia for this year's SABR convention.

SABR 43 is scheduled for July 31-August 4, 2013, at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, 1201 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, just blocks from City Hall, Independence Hall and many other Philadelphia landmarks. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.

You can register online at the SABR Store or on-site at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown during the convention. Registration includes access to all panel discussions, research presentations, committee meetings and other on-site events.

Please note that our block of Phillies ballgame tickets and the discounted all-inclusive rates are no longer available.

Hotel: SABR has secured an exclusive group rate of $139/night (plus tax) for SABR 43. This is a very low rate for a major hotel in downtown Philadelphia during that time of year. The Philadelphia Marriott Downtown is at 1201 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, just blocks from City Hall, Independence Hall and many other Philadelphia landmarks. Click here to book your room onlineor call (877) 212-5752. The hotel's website is www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phldt-philadelphia-marriott-downtown. Please note that our block of rooms is only available for the nights of July 30 to August 4, 2013. Book your room today; our room block usually goes quickly!

Ballgame: Braves at Phillies, Friday, August 2. Please note that our block of Phillies ballgame tickets is now sold out. If you wish to purchase Phillies tickets on your own, visit Phillies.com.

SABR's 61 regional chapters cover 34 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.; plus international chapters in Canada (Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia), Japan and the United Kingdom. For a list of all SABR chapters, visit SABR.org/chapters. A calendar of upcoming SABR meetings can be found at SABR.org/events.

Announcements: To sign up for chapter email announcements and receive instant notification of upcoming SABR events in your area, click here to select from the list of chapters, then click the "Join Group" button at the top of the chapter page. All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any chapter.

Find your regional chapter: Does your area have a regional chapter of its own? If not, it's easy to organize a new chapter — all you need is an interested group of SABR members. Click here for details.

Our fifth annual Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference was named for Fred by the second year it was held. Why wouldn’t it be? Fred helped plan the first conference we held at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and accepted my invitation to him to serve as moderator for that first year’s panel discussion, “From Baseball Research To Writing To Publication” with panelists Peter Morris, Bill Ryczek and John Thorn. Wow, talk about an All-Star lineup being managed by an All-Star manager! Then tragedy struck a few months later and Fred was killed in an automobile accident.

In a large way, with Fred’s guidance, both the quality and demeanor of all future conferences were set that first year and have held up throughout. The 2013 conference was no exception, with great information imparted by all the presenters, panelists and interviewees in a warm and friendly atmosphere made all the more pleasurable by the combined company of conference veterans and first-time attendees, indistinguishable.

This year’s Luncheon Keynote Address was given by Tom Shieber, who upheld the fine tradition of all of his keynote predecessors. He presented a thoughtful and provocative talk on the theme that I have asked all of our keynote speakers to address, encouraging baseball research. Tom, like all those before him, who each in their own way accomplished their mission, had a little bit more in mind: He had a specific proposal to make.

Grace Olson of Lincoln Middle School in La Crosse, Wisconsin, won the Lee Allen History of Baseball Award for her junior individual exhibit, "The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League."

Since 1996, SABR has honored the best baseball research project at the National History Day competition, an annual event in which students compete on a regional basis, followed by state competition, and then national finals at the University of Maryland.

The award is named in honor of Lee Allen, the historian at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum from 1950 to 1969. To view a list of past winners, click here.

Last year, we commemorated the 100th anniversary of one of the greatest teams in baseball history with Opening Fenway Park With Style: The 1912 World Champion Red Sox, edited by Bill Nowlin, with Dan Desrochers, Len Levin and Maurice Bouchard.

One new biography was posted as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 2,460 published biographies. Can we reach 2,500 before the SABR 43 convention in Philadelphia? Here is the new bio:

Bios on more than just ballplayers: The ambitious goal of the SABR Baseball Biography Project is to publish a full-life biography of every major league player in history. But SABR members write about a lot more than just ballplayers. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires and a lot more on the BioProject website. You can browse all of these categories at http://sabr.org/bioproj/browse. So if you've ever thought, "Hey, that person (or ballpark) should get the full BioProject treatment" — write the story and we'll publish it!

Check out the new Baseball Ballparks Project: The SABR Baseball Biography Project has been accepting/publishing "biographies" of Ballparks for a few years, and we have 39 of them on our website at http://sabr.org/bioproj/parks. However, this thing just got real. Ballparks are now its very own PROJECT — the Baseball Ballparks Project, our first official spin-off. The project leader is Scott Ferkovich, who is now in charge of recruiting ballparks articles and publicizing them. Learn more by clicking here.

Get involved! If you'd like to help contribute to the SABR BioProject, visit our BioProject Resources page or read the FAQs section to get started. We're also looking to expand the BioProject to include all "encyclopedic" articles on baseball-related subjects from past SABR publications or committee newsletters. If you come across an article you think should be included in the SABR "baseball repository" at the BioProject, send a copy or link to markarmour04@gmail.com or jpomrenke@sabr.org.

We've heard your feedback: Some of you have said you look forward to "This Week in SABR" every Friday, but sometimes there are just too many compelling articles and announcements to read every week. We're not complaining — hey, keep up the great work! — but we know the feeling. So in an effort to make the length of this newsletter more manageable to read, we'll summarize some of the repeating/recurring announcements in a special "In Case You Missed It (ICYMI)" section of "This Week in SABR".

Here are some major headlines from recent weeks that we don't want you to miss:

We'd also like to extend a welcome to Bill Johnson as the new chair of the Origins Committee. Bill represents the Iowa Baseball Museum of Norway and is a retired Navy Captain and a military analyst at the Navy Warfare Development Command in Norfolk, Virginia. He has presented at the 23rd Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, and has contributed biographies to Go-Go to Glory: The 1959 Chicago White Sox, The Team That Forever Changed Baseball, America: The 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, and The Miracle Has Landed: The Amazin' Story of How the 1969 Mets Shocked the World. He also authored an article in the SABR 38 convention journal, and contributed to the 2012 edition of the Emerald Guide to Baseball.

Did you know you can renew your membership at any time? 1- and 3-year SABR memberships are available by clicking "Renew" at http://members.sabr.org. Please also consider a donation to SABR to support baseball research at SABR.org/donate.

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